You'll find everything you need to know about being Jewish in this indispensable, revised and updated guide to the religious traditions, everyday practices, philosophical beliefs, and historical foundations of Judaism. What happens at a synagogue service? What are the rules for keeping kosher? How do I light the Hanukah candles? What is in the Hebrew Bible? What do the Jewish holidays signify? What should I be teaching my children about being Jewish? With the first edition of Essential Judaism, George Robinson offered the world the accessible compendium that he sought when he rediscovered his Jewish identity as an adult. In his "ambitious and all-inclusive" (New York Times Book Review) guide, Robinson illuminates the Jewish life cycle at every stage and lays out many fascinating aspects of the religion-the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, the evolution of Hasidism, and much more-while keeping a firm focus on the different paths to living a good Jewish life in today's world. Now, a decade and a half later, Robinson has updated this valuable introductory text with information on topics including denominational shifts, same-sex marriage, the intermarriage debate, transgender Jews, the growth of anti-Semitism, and the changing role of women in worship, along with many other hotly debated topics in the contemporary Jewish world and beyond. The perfect gift for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah or anyone thinking about conversion-this is the ultimate companion for anyone interested in learning more about Judaism, the kind of book its readers will revisit over and over for years to come.

An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism, third edition, offers a comprehensive study of a contemporary form of Hinduism. Begun as a revival and reform movement in India 200 years ago, it has now become one of the fastest growing and most prominent forms of Hinduism. The Swaminarayan Hindu transnational network of temples and institutions is expanding in India, East Africa, the UK, USA, Australasia, and in other African and Asian cities. The devotion, rituals, and discipline taught by its founder, Sahajanand Swami (1781-1830) and elaborated by current leaders in major festivals, diverse media, and over the Internet, help preserve ethnic and religious identity in many modern cultural and political contexts. Swaminarayan Hinduism, here described through its history, divisions, leaders, theology and practices, provides valuable case studies of contemporary Hinduism, religion, migrants, and transnationalism. This new edition includes up-to-date information about growth, geographic expansion, leadership transitions, and impact of Swaminarayan institutions in India and abroad.

An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism, third edition, offers a comprehensive study of a contemporary form of Hinduism. Begun as a revival and reform movement in India 200 years ago, it has now become one of the fastest growing and most prominent forms of Hinduism. The Swaminarayan Hindu transnational network of temples and institutions is expanding in India, East Africa, the UK, USA, Australasia, and in other African and Asian cities. The devotion, rituals, and discipline taught by its founder, Sahajanand Swami (1781-1830) and elaborated by current leaders in major festivals, diverse media, and over the Internet, help preserve ethnic and religious identity in many modern cultural and political contexts. Swaminarayan Hinduism, here described through its history, divisions, leaders, theology and practices, provides valuable case studies of contemporary Hinduism, religion, migrants, and transnationalism. This new edition includes up-to-date information about growth, geographic expansion, leadership transitions, and impact of Swaminarayan institutions in India and abroad.

In this timely study Gavin D'Costa explores Roman Catholic doctrines after the Second Vatican Council regarding the Jewish people (1965 - 2015). It establishes the emergence of the teaching that God's covenant with the Jewish people is irrevocable. What does this mean for Catholics regarding Jewish religious rituals, the land, and mission? Catholic Doctrines on the Jewish People after Vatican II establishes that the Catholic Church has a new teaching about the Jewish people: the covenant made with God is irrevocable. D'Costa faces head-on three important issues arising from the new teaching. First, previous Catholic teachings seem to claim Jewish rituals are invalid. He argues this is not the case. Earlier teachings allow us positive insights into the modern question. Second, a nuanced case for Catholic minimalist Zionism is advanced, without detriment to the Palestinian cause. This is in keeping with Catholic readings of scripture and the development of the Holy See's attitude to the State of Israel. Third, the painful question of mission is explored. D'Costa shows the new approach safeguards Jewish identity and allows for the possibility of successful witness by Hebrew Catholics who retain their Jewish identity and religious life.

In a time of social distancing and isolation, a meditation on the beauty of solitude from renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor A Los Angeles Review of Books "Best of the Year" selection "Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it. A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life."-Kirkus Reviews "Elegant and formally ingenious."-Geoff Wisner, Wall Street Journal When world renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor turned sixty, he took a sabbatical from his teaching and turned his attention to solitude, a practice integral to the meditative traditions he has long studied and taught. He aimed to venture more deeply into solitude, discovering its full extent and depth. This beautiful literary collage documents his multifaceted explorations. Spending time in remote places, appreciating and making art, practicing meditation and participating in retreats, drinking peyote and ayahuasca, and training himself to keep an open, questioning mind have all contributed to Batchelor's ability to be simultaneously alone and at ease. Mixed in with his personal narrative are inspiring stories from solitude's devoted practitioners, from the Buddha to Montaigne, from Vermeer to Agnes Martin. In a hyperconnected world that is at the same time plagued by social isolation, this book shows how to enjoy the inescapable solitude that is at the heart of human life.

Ritualized violence is by definition not haphazard or random, but seemingly intentional and often ceremonial. It has a long history in religious practice, as attested in texts and artifacts from the earliest civilizations. It is equally evident in the behaviors of some contemporary religious activists and within initiatory practices ongoing in many regions of the world. Given its longevity and cultural expanse, ritualized violence presumably exerts a pull deeply into the sociology, psychology, anthropology, theology, perhaps even ontology of its practitioners, but this is not transparent. This short volume will sketch the subject of ritualized violence, that is, it will summarize some established theories about ritual and about violence, and will ponder a handful of striking instantiations of their link.

If you or a loved one is battling a serious illness, there is hope! God is a healing God, and nothing is impossible with Him! One touch from God can change everything.

In God Heals, Pastor Steve will inspire your faith, encourage your heart, and give you proven biblical keys to win the battle for your health, including

• unleashing the power of faith
• praying prayers that work
• understanding the power of your words
• using the power of praise
• healing your soul
• and much more!

The interpretation of animal sacrifice, now considered the most important ancient Greek and Roman religious ritual, has long been dominated by the views of Walter Burkert, the late J.-P. Vernant, and Marcel Detienne. No penetrating and general critique of their views has appeared and, in particular, no critique of the application of these views to Roman religion. Nor has any critique dealt with the use of literary and visual sources by these writers. This book, a collection of essays by leading scholars, incorporates all these subjects and provides a theoretical background for the study of animal sacrifice in an ancient context.

A resource for worshipers today looking to change hardened worship patterns that stand in the way of everyday spirituality. All too often, those who attend church or synagogue find themselves bored or baffled by the service. Their predominant thought is how slowly the time ticks by—and that the service never seems to end. Written for laypeople and clergy of any denomination, The Art of Public Prayer examines how and why religious ritual works—and why it often doesn't work. The Art of Public Prayer uses psychology, social science, theology and common sense to explain the key roles played by ritual, symbolism, liturgy and song in services. Each chapter features "conversation points" designed to get you and your faith community thinking and talking about your own worship patterns—where they succeed, and where they need improvement. The Art of Public Prayer can help you and your fellow congregants revitalize your worship service by allowing you to organize and direct your own worship, making it a meaningful and fulfilling part of your life.

This is the first book-length study of the emergence of Medina, in modern Saudi Arabia, as a widely venerated sacred space and holy city over the course of the first three Islamic centuries (the seventh to ninth centuries CE). This was a dynamic period that witnessed the evolution of many Islamic political, religious and legal doctrines, and the book situates Medina's emerging sanctity within the appropriate historical contexts. The book focuses on the roles played by the Prophet Mu ammad, by the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphs and by Muslim legal scholars. It shows that Medina's emergence as a holy city, alongside Mecca and Jerusalem, as well as the development of many of the doctrines associated with its sanctity, was the result of gradual and contested processes and was intimately linked with important contemporary developments concerning the legitimation of political, religious and legal authority in the Islamic world."

This book is devoted to Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's discussions on the practice of prayer. Prayer is analyzed across a broad and complex spectrum in Soloveitchik's work, and his writings describing and analyzing the experience of prayer afford a profound insight into its diversity, ranging from existential crisis to communion with God. Through a careful reading of R. Soloveitchik's texts dealing with this topic, the book follows the consciousness of prayer across its various stages until maturity, starting with an analysis of Worship of the Heart, through to Reflections on the Amidah and other writings.

The northern Chinese mountain range of Mount Wutai has been a preeminent site of international pilgrimage for over a millennium. Home to more than one hundred temples, the entire range is considered a Buddhist paradise on earth, and has received visitors ranging from emperors to monastic and lay devotees. Mount Wutai explores how Qing Buddhist rulers and clerics from Inner Asia, including Manchus, Tibetans, and Mongols, reimagined the mountain as their own during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Wen-Shing Chou examines a wealth of original source materials in multiple languages and media--many never before published or translated-such as temple replicas, pilgrimage guides, hagiographic representations, and panoramic maps. She shows how literary, artistic, and architectural depictions of the mountain permanently transformed the site's religious landscape and redefined Inner Asia's relations with China. Chou addresses the pivotal but previously unacknowledged history of artistic and intellectual exchange between the varying religious, linguistic, and cultural traditions of the region. The reimagining of Mount Wutai was a fluid endeavor that proved central to the cosmopolitanism of the Qing Empire, and the mountain range became a unique site of shared diplomacy, trade, and religious devotion between different constituents, as well as a spiritual bridge between China and Tibet. A compelling exploration of the changing meaning and significance of one of the world's great religious sites, Mount Wutai offers an important new framework for understanding Buddhist sacred geography.

In this pioneering book, in turns poetic and philosophical, Nagapriya shows how the insights into the existential condition offered by Shinran can transform our understanding of what Buddhist practice consists in, and what it means to awaken to our ultimate concern. Shinran (1173 - 1263) is one of the most important thinkers of Japanese Buddhist history, and founder of the Jodo Shinshu Pure Land school. Nagapriya explores Shinran's spirituality and teachings through close readings, confessional narrative, and thoughtful interpretation. This book is an invitation to reimagine Shinran's religious universe, not for the sake of historical curiosity, but as an exercise that has the potential to remake us in the light of our ultimate concerns.

In this book readers are led on a powerful and inspiring journey through the inner dimensions of a range of Islamic acts, including prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage.

Consisting of a selection of writings by a great figure in Islamic history, Imam al-Ghazali, this book helps readers realize the benefits of the upliftment of their spiritual, social, and moral qualities.

Al-Ghazali (1058-1111), a towering figure in Islam, was born at Tus, near Mashhad in Iran, in the early Seljuq era. He wrote a large number of works, of which his magnum opus was the "Ihya' Ulum al-Din" compiled during his period of retirement and contemplation.

Originally published in 1994, Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a classic study of ideas of afterlife and postmortem survival in Jewish tradition and mysticism. As both a scholar and pastoral counselor, Raphael guides the reader through 4,000 years of Jewish thought on the afterlife by investigating pertinent sacred texts produced in each era. Through a compilation of ideas found in the Bible, Apocrypha, rabbinic literature, medieval philosophy, medieval Midrash, Kabbalah, Hasidism and Yiddish literature, the reader learns how Judaism conceived of the fate of the individual after death throughout Jewish history. In addition, this book explores the implications of Jewish afterlife beliefs for a renewed understanding of traditional rituals of funeral, burial, shiva, kaddish and more. This newly released twenty-fifth anniversary edition presents new material on little-known Jewish mystical teachings on reincarnation, a chapter on "Spirits, Ghosts and Dybbuks in Yiddish Literature", and a foreword by the renowned scholar of Jewish mysticism, Rabbi Arthur Green. Both historical and contemporary, this book provides a rich resource for scholars and laypeople and for teachers and students and makes an important Jewish contribution to the growing contemporary psychology of death and dying.

"At last, she arrives at the fatal end of the plank . . . and, with her hands crossed over her chest, falls straight downward, suspended for a moment in the air before being devoured by the burning pit that awaits her. . . ." This grisly 1829 account by Pierre Dubois demonstrates the usual European response to the Hindu custom of satis sacrificing themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands--horror and revulsion. Yet to those of the Hindu faith, not least the satis themselves, this act signals the sati's sacredness and spiritual power.
"Ashes of Immortality" attempts to see the satis through Hindu eyes, providing an extensive experiential and psychoanalytic account of ritual self-sacrifice and self-mutilation in South Asia. Based on fifteen years of fieldwork in northern India, where the state-banned practice of sati reemerged in the 1970s, as well as extensive textual analysis, Weinberger-Thomas constructs a radically new interpretation of satis. She shows that their self-immolation transcends gender, caste and class, region and history, representing for the Hindus a path to immortality.

A detailed guide to the breath-focused meditation practice of Kriya yoga for spiritual growth, inner stillness, and self-realization * Explains the basic techniques of the practice, detailing proper posture, breathwork exercises (pranayama), bandhas, third-eye gazing, and the use of mantra * Presents advanced, yet simple, techniques that accelerate a contemplative practice by micro-modulations related to posture, respiration, visualization, and sound * Includes wisdom from the author's teacher Ganesh Baba on the importance of the spine in Kriya yoga and the Cycle of Synthesis, a model of the human experience Kriya yoga is an ancient meditation technique that focuses on breathing and the spine to unlock deep states of awareness, self-realization, and spiritual growth. Kriya can provide a fast path to awakening, yet its practice has been shrouded in secrecy, passed only from master to initiate for millennia. Introduced into Kriya 40 years ago, Keith Lowenstein, M.D., offers an accessible yet detailed guide to Kriya yoga. He explains the basic techniques of the practice step by step, detailing proper posture, breathwork exercises (pranayama), visualization practices, and mantra. He reveals how Kriya is a scientific art--if practiced consistently, it will allow you to quickly enter deep states of meditation and ultimately experience inner stillness. He also explores how the practice of Kriya leads to healing and the development of compassion and the freeing joy of the union of Nature and Spirit.